Moments After the Wind
by FloodFeSTeR
Summary: Its sad, what most people are willing to settle for, for a fleeting sense of security. Even Vegas with its walls and its robots is nothing but an entire falsehood. At least outside, you can have a life. Even if it isn't your own. - - F!Courier - -
1. Preface

**_Warning (s): _**_I__t's not really a warning but heavy use of the Animal Friend perk in most situations because I love all of the critters it affects. I will capitalize the names of creatures (like Gecko, Brahmin, Deathclaw, Mole Rat, etc) because I want to and I can. Don't like it? Bite me. Excessive mentioning of gum drops, bubblegum, Sunset Sarsaparilla and Nuka Cola._

_I own nothing, save for my OC, her addiction to sugar and impulsive behavior. R&R please, flames and praise alike are welcome._

* * *

**_Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail_**_**  
**_**_her in so much and so many horrors; and_**_**  
**_**_hereafter she may suffer - - both in waking,_**_**  
**_**_from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams._**

_Bram Stoker, Dracula_

* * *

_Everything smells so new in the desert…._

_Maybe that's why I like it, it gives you a sense that you can start again around every corner…._

* * *

There is a sharp ringing between her ears.

She can't pin point where it started and she cannot tell when it will end but she prays it will be soon. Her head swims, she can feel herself forcing it from side to side but she does not remember giving her brain the signal to start such a thing. She can't open her eyes, she can't move her fingers, she can barely breath. It feels like there is a weight on her face and it is wet, sticky. She wants it gone. She doesn't want it there. Why is it there?

She can feel the coldness around her and it is suffocating. She opens her mouth and a grainy texture coats her tongue. She wants to move. Why can't she move? She tries to scream, but she only gasps for more air that will not come to her.

It is an indescribable fear that is laced across her chest, her shoulders. She wants this to end. She wants it all to end, but there doesn't seem to be one in sight.

And then, as if on some cliché cue, there is a light. It burns her eyes and she screams, eyes snapping closed. There is something continuously pressing down on her neck and face. It's cold and hard. She wants that to stop as well, but somehow, in the midst of the pain it is causing, she is finding relief. Whatever it is, it is helping her.

She lets her head loll, gives up on trying to open her eyes, gives up on trying to move her fingers and toes; if she didn't know any better, she would give up on trying to move her lungs. But that would just be stupid.

"It's alright, pard'ner," a strange mechanical voice is in her ears, muffled by dirt and something unpleasantly sticky. "Gon' get ya outta here, get ya patched up real quick like. Jus' relax."

Just relax? Her lids fluttered for a moment, almost glued together by the wet weight settled across her face. Well, if he insisted…


	2. Meet Her

"_One foot in front of the other…"_

Tenley opened her eyes slowly.

She reached a hand up and rubbed gently at her eyes, trying to get her vision back. This was how she woke up every morning for the past three days. Her vision either swam or was blurry, today it was sort of both mingled together but it settled faster than usual. The house was silent, the stench of mold and rot coming in stronger than ever, and Tenley worried about being alone. She hadn't yet spent a moment alone with herself, minus going to the bathroom, which was a terrible task with the head rush she gained from sitting down. After a few moments of looking around Tenley set her jaw and pulled the blanket away from her body, sliding her legs across the creaky mattress to plant her feet flat on the floor.

Her hair spilled (literally) over her shoulders and into her lap, making its own type of blanket for her. She took the heavy mass and raked it back with her fingers, tying it with the failing rubber band around her right wrist. She took in a deep breath and placed both hands on either side of her, slowly pushing herself up. Her legs felt tingly as she rested her weight on them, her fingers curled tightly around the back of the chair set beside her bed. She swayed back and forth slightly, her eyes closed as she tried to get her bearings. Ok, so maybe trying to stand on her own wasn't such a good idea. But she had to try, if she didn't, she would never be able to leave.

And Tenley wanted to move.

She wanted to leave, she wanted to find answers. Why was she shot? Who shot her? Most of all, where was the package she was meant to deliver. It was a Platinum Chip, at least that's what the paper she found tucked into her tattered bra had said. It must have been important if she had kept it so close to her.

"And what do you think you're doing?"

Tenley's eyes shot open and she looked over at the doorway, seeing Doc Mitchell standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. She smiled a little and waved. "H-Hi…um…I was just going to um…"

"Hurt yourself," he finished gruffly, but he smiled. "Rippin and rarin' to go aren't cha?"

Tenley smiled and managed to stand straight. She reached up and tucked a thin strand of hair behind her right ear and nodded. "I want to leave, I want to be able to defend myself soon. I need to find who shot me and get my answers."

Doc Mitchell stared at her for a long time, watching her try to make it to him on her own. She held onto the walls and took breaths between steps. In the few days he had known her, Doc Mitchell had found that Tenley was not a dangerous person. She was not vengeful, she just wanted the answers she deserved. She was lost. No memories, no possessions; all she had was a letter of destination and a piece of cloth with a half of a crescent on it which had been tucked into her bosom along with her letter. Important things went into important places, and that piece of cloth must have been a doosy.

"Ya sure you want to do this now, could wait another day or-"

He was cut off by her head snapping up, hair bouncing against the nape of her neck. Desperation. She was done. "I want this done, now. I can't take it anymore. Lying in bed, waiting for everything to come to me. I am tired of being stationary, I am tired of not having what I want. I need to know, I need to move on. If I can't go forward, what is the point in living?"

Doc Mitchell stared at Tenley, a smile ready to turn up his lips and then he sighed, rubbing his forehead before he started walking towards her. "Well if we're going to do this you're not going to try it when I'm barely awake," he grabbed her by her elbows and steered her back to the chair she had passed. "You're gonna sit here, I'm going to turn on the radio and you are going to wait while I cook."

Tenley twisted around as he approached the radio. "No! Come on, take me in the kitchen with you."

He sighed and turned around without any other protests, helping her out of her seat gingerly. "Go slow," he murmured when her feet got tangled in each other. "Don't need ya hurtin' yourself again."

She grimaced at the mention of her almost caved in forehead. "Shut up, that wasn't my fault."

They entered the kitchen slowly, Tenley's eyes focused on the plastic yellow chair waiting for her. Doc Mitchell grimaced at the way her right leg wobbled and made a mental note to check it over later. Tenley let out a shaky breath as she eased into the chair, face twisting through a minor twinge of pain at the weight she put on her legs. She hadn't used them since the day she had arrived, they were weak. She would have to spend some time exercising before she ran off into the sunset. After letting out a long, relieved, sigh, Tenley smiled up at Doc Mitchell.

"Sorry for all of the crap you have to help me with," she apologized.

He waved a hand at her and approached the fridge, rummaging around for the desired items for an actual breakfast for the young Courier. "It's no problem, I enjoy helpin' others."

Tenley smiled and turned herself to the table, strumming her fingers across the countertop before she paused, eyes set on a bright pink box tucked between a few packets of Insta-Mash. "What's that," she asked, pointing at it.

Doc Mitchell followed her finger to the box and smiled a little, walked over to it and plucking it up, flicking on the radio while he was there. "It's a box of gum drops," he opened the pack and dropped a few of the bright colored balls into his hand. "Try some."

Tenley took them hesitantly, popping one into her mouth. She rolled it around with her tongue, testing it with her teeth, Big Iron playing in the background, and then she smiled, pupils slightly dilated, and then she downed the last four gum drops in her hand, chewing on them enthusiastically. Her throat hummed in delight and Doc Mitchell chuckled at her simple happiness, walking back over to the stove and clicking it on.

"See you have a sweet tooth," he mused.

She mumbled something around the wad of sugar and then rested her head on her hands, elbows propped on the edge of the splintering table. She hummed with Big Iron, feeling something tugging against her chest for a moment, and then her ears prick up at the voice that fades in as the tune fades out.

"Hello New Vegas, this is Mr. New Vegas and might I say you are looking as lovely as ever…" there is a slight paused and then he begins to talk again. "So has anyone else heard of the infamous woman known as Deadman? Seems she has gone missing, no more bodies littering the highway through Quarry Junction and no more string ups from her, now that only leaves the Legion to have their crucifixions. I don't know where you went Deadman, but good riddance…"

Tenley jumped as the radio was immediately shut off mid sentence, her eyes locking on the back of Doc Mitchells head. His fingers stayed firm around the knob to the Radiation King box, the stove beginning to waft the scent of cooking meat into the air. Tenley stared at him for a moment before she folded her hands in front of her, stuffing the wad of sugar into her right cheek. She cleared her throat but he didn't move, so she spoke.

"Who is Deadman?"

He looked over his shoulder at her briefly before he went back to the food. "She's no one."

Tenley scowled. "Mitchell, tell me. Who is she?"

He didn't say anything for a long time, and eventually Tenley thought she was going to have to ask him again but he sighed and turned the stove on low, turning to her with shiny eyes. He pulled back one of the chairs at the table and sat, folding his hands on the table, eyes hard on them.

"Deadman…she is a ruthless killer. The NCR have been trying to get a hold of her for fifteen years and have had no such luck. She would come in and wipe out an entire town like this in one night. When silence was reported and the NCR came in to investigate, they only found crucified people. Men, women, children. She doesn't discriminate. Some rumors say she runs with a pack of Nightstalkers that live in the Morning Star cave or over by the Mojave Outpost, but me…I think she is just a figment of everyone's imagin-"

"No you don't," Tenley cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "You know she's real…you've met her."

He looked up at her with a strange look in his eyes and then nodded, lips set in a firm line. "Yes…I have met her. She was a true nightmare to behold. I'd say she was evil in a physical form, others say she was simply a demon plain and simple."

"Sounds like the same thing," Tenley looked to the window.

"It's not," he stood again and walked over the stove, turning it off completely. "Evil and demons are two different things, that is something you will unfortunately learn in the Wasteland. It's not something I can teach you, not something you can read about in a book," he paused in moving the food from the skillet to a large ceramic plate. "I hate that I can't prepare ya for what's out there."

Tenley stared at his back and then chuckled a little. "You act like you're my father."

He smiled at her. "Been takin' care of ya like I was, only natural I don't want ya to get ruined out there."

"I won't get _ruined_," she hummed, eyeing the plate in his hands as he sat at the table. "I'll get stronger."

"That could go two ways now, remember that."

"I will…I will…"

* * *

"_A thing of legends, she is a succubus. Draining life for her own gain and enjoying herself, she is known as a Deadman. Like a Nightkin, she only moves at night, no one knows what happens to her during the day. Some say she is a demon, some say she is simply a monster, most say she is just a myth, many claim her to be a Legion. No one knows where she came from, no one knows how she got here or really when she got here._

_She could have been a simple member of society that snapped, she could have been a raider gone AWOL, she could have been anything before she started showing up in the NCR's portfolios and on their bounty flyers. _

_Watch your backs for any women travelers, be cautious, but it won't do you any good. She'll get to you, and you won't even see it coming. Reports have been that she is a relentless killer, tracking down a man named Christopher, who was an apprentice of General Oliver, for three months. After butchering him with a serrated knife she left behind, she crucified him along the road towards Nellis Air Force Base..."_

* * *

Tenley listened to the report on a lower volume, making sure if he was awake, Doc Mitchell couldn't hear it. She rolled over onto her side, folding her hands beneath her head and then wincing as a sharp pain shot behind her eyes for a second. She was excited. She would be walking outside tomorrow. She had insisted on it. She needed to get out of this bed, she needed to feel the actual sun on her skin. She needed to get well faster, even if Doc Mitchell was against it.

She needed to gather supplies, she needed the things any traveler needed. Weapons, first aid supplies, armor and her strength. Tenley closed her eyes, breathing in deeply through her nose before she forced her mind to clear. First thing first, she needed sleep, and plenty of it. The Pip-Boy the Doc had given her gave her the time and it said it was around nine thirty at night. Tenley grimaced at that. The whole town shut down around eight. Like a bunch of old folks. Or good people. Tenley grimaced further and then cleared her mind again, snuggling her face in deeper to the pillow, inhaling mold and dust.

She could do this. She had survived a bullet to the brain, she could make it to New Vegas.


	3. Meet Them

_I don't think any of these chapters will actually be short, seeing as there's so much I can do with them. So much action and stories going on in the plot line of New Vegas, I don't really have a boring chapter in mind. Well, save for these first few, but they're necessary. And Tenley is pretty much just a whiny little bitch right now._

_R&R please! Flames are welcome, I really don't care._

_**Translation (s): **_

_*If you would scream, I would stop._

_*Legion? What makes you think I am Legion?_

_*I am not one of them, think ahead. Legion does not allow women to be a part of their army._

_*You're one of the lucky ones. I'll let you live. You know the language, you've experienced my madness, now spread the word and tell Oliver that I'm coming for him._

* * *

_Her hips rolled, tongue rolling out of her mouth gently as she held the blade closer to her face. Her eyes were locked on the young man at her feet, making sure he saw her tasting the rusty substance she had gutted from him. She hummed as crimson coated her tongue, her nerves being sent into a frenzy and making her twitchy._

"_Si clamatis, ego subsist," she purred, crouching down to his side._

_He watched her with panicked eyes, the blade dancing close to the side of his face. "No you won't, you'll just string me up like the rest. Legion scum," he spat the last part._

_She cocked her head to the right, blood dripping into the sand at her feet and clotting the grains. "Legionem? Quid faciam tibi: Legiomihi?"_

_His eyes met hers again, seeing the cold, calculating blood lust he had heard of, and nearly wet his pants. "Latin, stringing your victims up, your one of them."_

_She laughed, a maniacal, evil laugh, and jumped to her feet, startling the man. Her lips snapped up into a grin and she raised the machete in her hand, diving it down in one swift movement into the side of his right calf, eliciting a pained scream from him. She twirled for a moment, her ragged skirt fluttering around her, making it to the fire he had set up for his own camp – a camp which she had intruded upon – not even flinching when the flames danced across her ankles. She paused and turned her eyes on him, seeing the tears and the pain on his face._

"_Sum unus, cogitare ante. Legio pars exercitus non patitur mulieres," she walked back over to him, wrenching the machete from his leg and she shook the blood from it, enjoying the way the blood flew to the ground in droplets. "Unus es beatiorem. Me, et te reservabunt. Nostis Lingua expert dementia, qui nunc ueno expandit verbum at dicere ei placer."_

_He watched her back as she literally skipped into the desert, Latin tunes rolling off of her tongue accompanied by the occasional laughter all NCR had grown to fear._

* * *

"Sit still now, or the needle might slip," Doc Mitchell scolded.

Tenley couldn't help herself, she couldn't help any of the jumpy movements she was giving today. She winced as the needle slid under her skin, rubbing the sore spot as Doc Mitchell extracted it. He set the stimpak to the side, raising an eyebrow as she began her jerky movements again. She smiled broadly at him, the bandage around her head secured tight and fresh. She was in his wife's old jumpsuit, practical for the heat and the cold of the desert she was going to be trekking across.

But that wouldn't be for another day or two, she wasn't ready to leave yet.

Today, she would be getting around town.

"You ready for this," Mitchell muttered, eyes wavering around her giddy face.

She nodded her head fiercely, groaning and hanging her head as a dull thump went through her injured eye socket. "Owey!"

Doc Mitchell chuckled as she swung her legs back and forth and then stood, wiping his hands on his pants before he held them out to her. "Well, let's get you out of this bed then."

Tenley froze then, her blood almost icy, and she looked up at him. Her eyes were wide and almost confused, as if she had just realized what was going on. Tenley was scared, of course. She hadn't been outside since she was in a grave and of course, what kind of introduction was that? Today she would be outside, in the sunshine, meeting everyone she hadn't and enjoying the cruel desert she knows she loves.

That is one thing she knows by instinct, that she loves the desert. Mainly at night, when the heat isn't sweltering and she can hide easily.

Tenley smiled and nodded firmly, taking Doc Mitchells hand and he hoisted her up. He placed a hand against her hip that she didn't need. Tenley's legs were strong, Doc Mitchell had never seen someone with such strong legs before. Nothing but strong muscles and they had healed rather quickly, which he found very strange. The only thing that was healing slowly was the woun on her forehead, and that was no real surprise.

But her quick mobility was, though Doc Mitchell didn't say anything.

Tenley counted the boards beneath her feet as they approached the front door Tenley's body quivering with excitement. It was like she was high on Med-X, but she knew she was just excited. Of course she was, who wouldn't be after being cooped up in this dark home for almost a week?

Her eyes snapped closed as the sun light flooded over her and she felt the warmth instantly soaking into her skin. She blinked away the pain and rays as the town came into view. They were at the highest point in town, on the top of a small hill, and the whole town was laid out for her to take in. There were several crumbling homes around the fringes of the land, many boarded up and already caved in, but there were a few still set up and inhabited. Two homes had patches of plants beside them where men in overalls raked at the dry ground, wiping away sweat on their brows. A pin of something drew her attention and Tenley marked that has her first destination.

Then she saw something coming towards them, and it was fast. _Robot_. The voice blinked through her head so fast Tenley didn't have time to think further on where it came from. The cartoon face on it made Tenley giggle but she didn't say anything about it, just smiled as Doc Mitchell led her down the gentle slope of the hill. They stopped in front of the robot, Doc wary about having the damn thing so near her.

It wasn't that he didn't trust the thing, it was just…he didn't trust the thing.

"Well, howdy pardner, might I say you are looking fit as a fiddle."

She cocked her head to the right. "Do we know each other?"

Doc Mitchell lowered his lips to her right ear. "Victor here is the one that dug ya outta that grave."

A look of recognition shot across her face. "Oh my! Thank you so much!"

He waved a 'hand' at her. "Don' mention it. 'm always here to lend a helping hand to a stranger in need."

That was kind of creepy, but she didn't question it any further. "Well thanks again," she looked up at Mitchell. "Can we go see those things in the pen?"

It took him a moment to understand what she meant and then he smiled, nodding. "Sure," his eyes followed Victor's back as they shuffled across the sand, past an old yucca. "These are called Big Horns."

"I wonder why," she joked, holding onto the railing of the pen. She smiled up at Mitchell like an over excited child. "Can I pet one?"

Mitchell looked over at the owner of the calves. His name was Cleveland and he nodded, raking at his garden. "Yeah, jus' don't move too fast, they'll get spooked."

Tenley nodded and started easing into the pen, her legs throbbing but she didn't mind it. One of the calves lifted its head, exposed molars squishing what dried grass they found on the ground. It chewed slowly, its horns rocking on its head and it snorted. Tenley giggled at the gush of air and waved a hand in front of her face. She swallowed and reached a hand out, the palm shaking until it was pressed flat against its forehead. It bowed its head against her hand, making her rock back a step. She waved her free hand out and slipped forward, both hands wrapping around the calves head.

It grunted and snorted again, trying to pull back for a moment before it just gave up and let her lean on it. Tenley's eyes flickered around for a moment before she grinned over her shoulder at Mitchell and Cleveland. Mitchell was smiling and nodding at her, Cleveland leaning on his rake.

"He's so cute," Tenley cooed, running her hand over the calves' horns.

"That one there is a she, the only she in the herd. Name is Ventra."

"That's a lovely name," Tenley managed to stand on her own again and she smiled at the rather little thing. She looked back to Mitchell. "I'm hungry!"

He whined at her whining and led her out of the pen, waving goodbye to Cleveland. They started up the road again, hobbling towards an old beaten truck. "Well, we'll go up to Trudy's saloon, get ya some iguana bites an' then we'll talk to Sunny Smiles."

"Who's Sunny Smiles," Tenley asked, distracted by a swaying sign labeled 'Supplies' hanging above a wood paneled building.

"Sunny is kinda like the town guard, keeps the varmints outta the pen and the gardens. Keeps the damn geckos out of the spring water."

"Maybe she can teach me how to shoot a gun," Tenley smiled at the prospect.

Mitchell didn't say anything but Tenley was too distracted by her surroundings to notice that. There was some kind of smell coming from the wind, it must have been the soil. She also smelt smoke and it was coming from the back of the saloon they were standing in front of. An old man helped Mitchell get Tenley onto the porch, he introduced himself as Pete. Well, Dynamite Pete, but Tenley was sticking to just Pete.

"Thank you," her voice was shaky from almost falling off of the steps.

"No problem lil lady," his peppered beard moved with his smile. "Now you two get inside, gonna be a sandstorm comin up soon."

"Damn," Mitchell muttered as he opened the door to the saloon. "Guess we're gonna be in here for awhile. Maybe we should get back to th-"

"Mitcheeeeell," Tenley whined, gaining a head rush from the cold wafting from a rattling air conditioner.

"Fine, fine," he grumbled, keeping close until she was sitting on a bar stool. He rasped his knuckles on the counter, catching the attention of a graying woman with a dusty apron. "Hey Trudy, need some food for the little lady."

Trudy smiled and nodded. "Sure, comin right up."

Tenley looked around the bar, hands clasped in front of her. Her eyes roamed around the pictures nailed above the large mirror on the other side of the bar. The pictures were dusty but she was able to see a row of miners with two hounds sitting in front of them, a picture of a couple holding each other against the side of the old truck out in the streets. There was a group of children standing in front of a large red building and then a young woman on a large four legged animal, but it wasn't a Big Horn.

Her attention snapped to the bar as something clicked in front of her. Cocked her head, staring at the strange food in front of her and she looks up to Trudy, who is setting a yellow glass bottle in front of her. And now her attention is one that.

"Whas that," she mutters, poking the bottle.

Trudy chuckles. "That's Sunset Sarsaparilla," she pops off the top, sending a flurry of bubbles into the stale air. She smiled at it and held it out to Tenley. "Wanna keep this 'ne? The stars are rare."

It was the most beautiful thing Tenley had seen since she had woken up. The bottle cap was rusty, save for one bright blue star in the center of the cap. She took it from Trudy's hand and stared at it in wonder, twisting it around in her fingers.

"Pretty," she muttered, pupils dilated. She looked up at Trudy. "Sure I can keep it?"

Trudy nodded. "Yes ma'am, now eat up before your food gets cold."

Tenley nodded fiercely, stuffing the cap into her bra before she picked up the pieces of meat on her plate. The meat was chewy but not unpleasant. She was able to swallow it, but it sort of felt like it was moving around in her stomach; she ignored that after the third or fourth bite. She picked up the Sunset Sarsaparilla and stared at it suspiciously. She Tenley hadn't drank anything but water since Victor dug her up from her grave, she was cautious about everything right now.

As soon as the amber liquid hit her tongue she moved her tongue back and let the whole drink burn a path through her throat. She could almost feel the sugar in the drink and that made her stomach lurch and turn, made her skin prickle. She could see herself getting slowly addicted to anything with sugar in it.

Everyone jumped when the door beside the bar snapped open. A large dog loped into the bar, covered in dust and a heavy gust of sand blew in behind it, sliding across the old floor. A figure hurried into the saloon, slamming the door behind them. Tenley watched them curiously. They wore thick leather armor, gloves and boots, a long rifle strapped to their back. They wore some sort of scarf that covered their head and their nose and mouth.

They pulled their rifle from their back and leaned it against a bench nailed to the wall behind Tenley and pulled the scarf from their head, draping it across the barrel of the rifle. It was a woman with strawberry blonde hair. She was pretty, her features more plain though than even Trudy's. Her eyes, a brilliant cerulean color, came up when she heard Tenley set her bottle down and her eyes narrowed into a glare. Trudy and Mitchell knew why she was angry, but they didn't say anything. They would just watch this play out, see what Tenley would do. What Sunny would do.

"Th' hell is she doin here," Sunny griped, grabbing a Sarsaparilla from behind the bar.

"Figured it was time to take her out," Mitchell explained. "What were you doin out there in that storm?"

Sunny grunted, unusually angry, and slumped down onto the bench while Tenley went back to her food for a moment. "Damn Geckos got inta the water, had to go kill some. Don' get me started on the coyotes that tried to get the good Gecko hides."

Tenley looked back. "What's a Gecko?"

Sunny glared. "Fuckin idiot," she muttered, taking a swig from her drink.

Tenley's brow furrowed. "I was shot in the head, sorry if I don't remember what the damn thing is."

Mitchell stared at Tenley with a slightly shocked expression. He hadn't heard her talk like this before. She sounded rather angry. Sunny shook her head a little. "Right, you got shot by a couple of idiots."

"Did you see them," Tenley turned to her fully, curiosity overrunning her aggravation of Sunny. "Did you see the men that shot me?"

Sunny shook her head. "Hell no, I was busy."

"Right, you're the pest control around here," Tenley quipped, keeping her eyes trained on Sunny.

"Enough," Trudy glared daggers at both of the women. "Neither one of you have any right gripin at each other. Sunny, put aside yer jealousy and Tenley eat your food. Gonna be stuck in here with each other until th' storms over so mine as well be civil while we do it."

Mitchell sighed as Sunny kicked herself up and stomped into the other room, Cheyenne at her heels. He listened to the jukebox click on and placed a hand on Tenley's shoulder. "Guess I gotta teach ya how to shoot."

Tenley looked up at him with now strangely innocent eyes. "Why is she jealous?"

He shook his head and looked up at Trudy, who was talking to Pete at the end of the bar. He looked back down at Tenley. "Don' worry about it, you just eat and we'll see if it's safe enough to head on home."

Tenley nodded, eyes flickering to the open doorway before she went back to her food. She would find out what that bitchs' problem was before she left.

* * *

"Alrigh…now hold it steady, one eye closed. Which hand ya think a write with?"

"Right."

"Then close that one, now feel how heavy it is? Don' tense up, keep the sights aligned the best ya can. And…fire."

Tenley pulled back on the trigger, cringing at the recoil. It shot through her arms and she rolled her shoulders. She already had a nosebleed from the last try. But at least this time she hit one of the bottles. It had shattered into pieces, the glittering slices littering the ground and making rainbows across the maize to their left. Tenley wiped at the slow dripping blood on her upper lip and smiled at Mitchell.

"I did it," she cheered herself on.

He chuckled and pushed off of the side of his house, approaching her with steady steps. "Sure did, maybe we can try again without a nosebleed, huh?"

She chuckled and slid the pistol into the holster on her right thigh. "Sure, but I think I got the hang of it for the most part."

He nodded. "Yeah, seems like it. Let's go inside and get the shotgun now, I wanna see how ya hold onto that."

Tenley groaned but followed him anyway, tracking dirt into the house. She didn't realize how dark and cold the home was before she had left the house the day before. Now, after basking in the warm glow of the sun and all that, Tenley realized that the home seemed so sad. It seemed empty despite all the furniture and surgical equipment. She waited in the main hallway while Mitchell rummaged around in a locker at his bedside. There was a door closed to her right and Tenley sneaked a peek into Mitchell's room. He wouldn't notice. She chewed on her lip and walked over to the door, easing it open without a single squeak and her lips twitched downwards.

It was an old broom closet and it was stuffed to the brim with so many things. A stack of old boxes written with the words Alexandra's Things on the sides. There was a cradle behind that and then a few boxes that said Baby Things. Her heart shuttered and she hurriedly closed that door before she was found out. Mitchell came from his room with a proud grin on his face as he cradled a rather impressive rifle against his chest.

"This is my baby," he stroked the barrel. "She's yours now."

Tenley took the rifle with a dry mouth. "Th-Thank you."

He nodded once, placing his hands on his hips. "Her name is Alexandra, take good care of her."

Tenley froze, staring at the floor before she looked up at Mitchell with a somber expression. He nodded again and started for the door. She trailed behind slowly.

Deadman had took his wife…and his baby.


	4. Lonely Hands

_I'm so happy with the reviews I'm getting :') They mean so much to me, especially considering I can't work on my Fallout 3 story like I want to so I have to fill that temporarily empty slot with this. R&R please, flames and praise alike are welcome. _

_Credit to the cover of this story: Lara Croft, 2013 – except Tenley is a bit thicker around the hips and thighs, lots of mucle._

* * *

_3__rd__ and Lake it burnt away, the hallway_

_was there where we learned to celebrate  
Automatic bought the years you'd talk for me  
that night you played me 'Lip Parade'  
Not the needle, nor the thread, the lost decree  
Saying nothing, that's enough for me_

Mitchell watched from the doorway of the living room with arms crossed over his chest, right shoulder leaning against the frame as Tenley sang and packed. She had a thick, Gecko-hide sack and was shoving several patches of armor and boxes of ammo into it. Alexandra was leaning against the chair beside the bed, along with a set of metal armor Tenley had fallen in love with over at Chet's store – she gave the poor boy a nosebleed when she tried to change in the middle of the damn store.

She packed a pistol into the bag, a few more boxes of ammo and then she picked up the thickly packed first aid box. She held it tightly in both hands, staring down at it in strange silence before she nodded once and put it in her pack. Most of the things in her bag were things they had found while patrolling the road leading out of town (the few sets of armor, the new laser pistol in her bag, the combat knife hooked to her right ankle). She was a killing machine ready to go. Tenley had proved she was dangerous when he finally talked Sunny into trying hand-to-hand combat. It had taken her fifteen whole seconds to get Sunny on the ground with a mouthful of red sand. Sunny had been pissed but Mitchell turned into a supportive fifteen year old girl, cheering with Tenley over her success. It took ingrained skill to have combat skills like that, especially after being shot in the head.

Tenley tied the bag closed and set it beside Alexandra, fingers running over the spiked shoulders of the metal armor she was destined to wear. She swallowed and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply with a wanting smile on her face.

"All ready ta go aren't ya," Mitchell smiled.

She looked over at him with that wide eye, the other hidden behind fresh bandages, and then she smiled. "I am, Doc," she muttered, walking towards him. "I have to know, I have to know why they did this to me, what I did to them to make them want me dead."

Mitchell nodded. "I understand I just," he mumbled the last part. "I jus' worry about ya."

That made her feel so warm and Tenley reached out, taking him in her arms and she gave him a gentle squeeze. "It's ok," she muttered, letting him go. "I'll be fine, I promise. I'm going straight to the Mojave Outpost like you told me to do."

Mitchell nodded once firmly. "Smart, you see any nasty characters out there, you just hide. Or run. Run until you can't run anymore, I don' need ya dyin on me out there."

"I'm tougher than you think," she mock punched him in the shoulder.

The room fell into a strange silence and Mitchell looked to the right as Tenley looked down. The air felt sorrowful, it felt heavy and damp with some sort of regret that Mitchell couldn't stand. In the short time he had known the young woman, she was not one for silence. It made her itchy, or so she said. But he had seen her clearing the old school house of mantis' and she could be quiet when it came to sneaking. Then Mitchell came to the sad realization, one he didn't want to know.

Tenley was a killing machine.

She was a very dangerous person.

Who knows what she was in a past life, before this happened she could have been a murderer, she could have been Legion.

"I want to see it, ya know."

He looked down at her then. "Huh?"

She looked at him fully, her face dangerously serious. "My grave…I want to see my grave."

Mitchell hesitated. He didn't think this was the right time for that. But he would rather be with her than her go alone. He nodded and turned around, walking over to an old bookshelf that held a lamp. He grabbed it and an old pack of matches. "You stick close, radcorpions sneak up on ya and get ya in the ass, can't help it."

She chuckled and nodded. "Gotcha."

* * *

The town was beautiful at dusk.

The sky gave off a violet hue and the mantises' started their calling. As Tenley waited for Mitchell to properly shut his door, she could hear a few coyote calls across the hills and closed her eyes, breathing in the smell of the desert. Damn if she didn't love the desert. Her eyes snapped open as she heard shuffling and then followed Mitchell down the hill. As her boots connected with concrete, Tenley looked to the right, seeing a ways down the road that Victor was sitting outside his home. That made her skin prickle but Mitchell called for her and she started jogging after him.

Dynamite Pete was still sitting on the bench outside the Prospectors Saloon and he noticed them as they passed through the faint light of the lantern set on the top of the sign reading Goodsprings. "What you kids up ta?"

Tenley smiled. "Jus' gonna go up here and check out the bone orchard. What you still doin up?"

He chuckled. "Old bones won't let me sleep, maybe a little rum will."

"Sure that'll definitely help," her laugh tingled through the air and she waved as she started behind Mitchell again. "Goodnight Pete!"

He waved, lips silent, and Tenley kicked up dust at the edge of her boots. There was no light past the saloon, just the faint glow of the crescent moon reflecting against the old water tower. Tenley could feel the cold through her jumpsuit but it wasn't much thanks to the material she was swaddled in. Mitchell was just a sound in front of her, a darker backdrop for the rocks to settled behind. Her lips puckered and she whistled a tune between her teeth, eyes roaming across the stars above her, the clouds rolling in an angry way.

She jumped as a loud hiss went through the air and the lantern was lit. They had made it to the bone orchard. Tenley's eyes fluttered around the graves as Mitchell hung the lantern on a palm yucca. There were fences around a few, fresh weeds lay across the top of several others. Her boots scuffed through the dirt as she trailed her fingers across the splintering wood of a fence, looking up to Mitchell. He was standing in front of one of the graves with fresh weeds, staring down with a placid face and clenched fists.

"This is hers," Tenley muttered, crouching down and placing a hand against the wooden cross.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Still feels like we were up here yesterday, placin flowers on her brother's grave. He was twelve, he died from infection a few days after we settled here."

She looked up at him sadly. "I'm sorry, Mitchell."

He waved a hand. "It's alright," he sighed and watched as she stood. "Your grave is over here."

Tenley was back in her zone as he said that, following him over to a hole in the earth. It was perfectly squared, someone had taken their sweet time with this grave. The pile of dirt lying beside it made her stomach lurch and then she noticed something in the bottom of the grave. A necklace. With a familiar piece of metal on it. She jumped into the grave, hating how familiar the hole was, and grabbing the necklace. It was a Sarsaparilla Star bottle cap tied with a sturdy piece of leather. Her breath stuttered around her teeth and then Tenley set her jaw back.

The leather was long, so she had to wrap it around her slender throat twice to get it to settle just above her cleavage. As she tied it under her hair, Tenley climbed from the grave. Her eyes locked firmly with Mitchells and he smiled at the fire that was back in her eyes. He didn't even mention the necklace.

"Will I see ya in the mornin?"

She shrugged. "Probably not," her eyes found something and she faced north, finding lights around the mountains. "That's it…isn't it?"

He noticed her attention and turned as well, face drawing back. "Yeah…yeah it is."

There was no going through the mountains here, she would have to take the long way around, but that didn't mean Tenley was sad. No, she wanted it to take a while. She wanted to let them get comfortable, let them think that they were safe and she was dead. She would have her revenge, one way or another. But she wouldn't sit here and let the anger make her eternally bitter. There was no point for that, she just needed it to simmer a little, enough to make everything have some sort of poetic justice to it.

"I can't wait to get my hands on them," she muttered.

He looked over at her. "Don' let the anger eat at ya."

She shook her head and turned around. "No, I won't let that happen if I can't help it. I can keep myself calm, I can keep a level head. Don't worry about that."

"I hope ya can, I could understand changing, getting all worked up," he grabbed the lantern from the yucca and they started down the hill, back towards the town. "But I don't wanna hear bout how ya died tryin to get ta these people."

Tenley sighed and nodded. "I know…I understand that and I will be sure that you don't hear about it," she smiled. "But you will hear about how I became queen of Vegas."

Mitchel laughed and it carried across the rocks. "You wouldn' even know if they hadn' a forgotten that paper."

She shrugged, sliding across the gravel for a moment. "Well, maybe it was fate. I know where to go, I know my goal, and I will get to it with a level head. Who knows, maybe I can make a few friends along the way?"

"Incredibly optimistic."

"If I wasn't, I think I would have gone crazy a long time ago."

"You think you were this way 'fore ya got shot?"

She looks up at the night sky, eyes reflecting a shooting star she wishes on fleetingly. "I hope so…I'm afraid of what I was before all of this."

Doc Mitchell couldn't admit that, sometimes, he wanted to agree with her.

* * *

Tenley shrugged on her left shoulder pad rather silently, looking over her shoulder to the door every now and again to make sure Mitchell was still in bed and not waiting to catch her leaving. To be honest, Tenley didn't want to see his face again. It would just make leaving harder than it already was. She wasn't supposed to be leaving so soon but she had to do this, she just had to. Even if that meant going out half-cocked and almost blind in one eye. She grabbed Alexandra and strapped her to her back, testing the weight there for a moment before she grabbed her pack and stepped across the hallway into the kitchen. She grabbed as many boxes of gumdrops as she could and stuffed them into the pack, grabbing two Sunset Sarsaparillas from the fridge and stuffing those to into her pack before she tied it closed again and started for the door.

She paused against the threshold, fingers tight around the rusty knob and she looked down the hallway, hearing the creak of springs.

"Tenley?"

She didn't hesitate anymore. She opened the door and pushed out into the cold early morning air, letting the door snap shut behind her. She didn't need to see his face, that voice was painful enough. The town was dark and quiet, save for those clicks and calls of wildlife. Her boots thumped steadily against the cracked concrete as she started down the road, a small kick in her step and a small smile tugging on her lips. This was it, she was leaving. She was going to get her fucking answers, and no one would be stopping her.

"You're one dumb bitch, you know that?"

Dammit.

Tenley glared over her shoulder at Sunny, who was staring at her with an icy glare. "Why am I a dumb bitch now?"

Sunny shook her head. "You think you can really just jump up and leave around here? No one will care if you left?"

"Mitchell will be fine," Tenley waved a hand. "Man's already survived plenty of things, a stranger leaving will be a burden lifted."

Sunny shook her head again. "Don' matter what he's already survived, mans had enough heartbreak in his life. You really don't care if you just add to it?"

Tenley's temper flared. "How about you go up there you bitch?! Why don't you go up there and take my place for a little while instead of lecturing me on how I need to stay. I have things to do, I don't have the time to just mull around here any longer. I have to get moving before the trail gets cold."

"Let it go! Who cares if they shot you, you're alive, let it be!"

"I don't have time for this," Tenley growled in frustration. She got half a block away before she turned around. "Why the hell would you care if I left with some heartache anyway? From what I've gathered, you hate me anyway!"

"Never said I hated you," Sunny shrugged. "Not everyone has to like you."

"They said you were jealous."

Sunny huffed, ruffling her bangs. "As if, fuckin leave already. Regret comin out here to stop you."

Tenley watched with wide eyes as Sunny turned and walked away, her dog at her heels. What the hell had just happened? She stared at the black top for another moment and then shook her head, mumbling her way down the road. She just didn't understand anything that woman did. And why did she care? She didn't, so Tenley just tucked her head and continued walking. She wanted to get to the Mojave Outpost before sundown so she could stock up on what Mitchell didn't have in his home and get her bandages changed. She wouldn't be able to take them off for awhile, or so he had recommended.

_"Ya can take em off whenever ya want, but I'd wait a lil bit to give it time ta heal. Won't leave a pretty scar."_

He was right, she didn't know if she was ready to see what was under that bandage. Tenley was tough, but somewhere deep down she knew her looks meant the world to her. That and the smoking barrel of .44 magnum. But those were two different things. It wasn't like Tenley was vain or anything – at least, she didn't think she was – but the scar that would more than likely come from this thing was sure to rattle her bones a little bit.

Tenley looked up at the sky, hearing a ravens cry and saw one circling her. Crows didn't circle, or did they? She had seen a few flying around Goodsprings but none ever circled. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she started moving faster. Mitchell said past the curve up ahead, to the right, was a settlement called Primm. She just had to get there and she would be relatively safe. She didn't think she could go any faster and that bird was following her. What the hell could that be? Of course, she gets a little over a mile from Goodsprings and she is immediately tracked by a bird.

Just fucking great.

* * *

_I saw this little comic on Facebook that was making fun of how you got the Pip-Boy in New Vegas and decided to do something creative - not really - with it. Just an explanation as to why I didn't have Tenley get her Pip-Boy just yet._


	5. Worn Faces

"God damn bird," Tenley mutters, the sun bearing down on her.

She had been walking for a good hour now, or she guessed it had been an hour. She didn't have a watch or anything to tell the time and it wasn't all that important to her anyway. She just knew she needed to stay on the road, she needed to stay alive. She was pretty bold after being shot in the head. If a bullet couldn't kill her, what kind of chance did a gecko or a raider have? None, none at all. Or at least, that was what her damaged mind continued to preach into her ear.

Tenley's eyes tilt upwards, seeing that bird flying ahead of her, its shadow truly keeping her from _really _baking in this heat. It wasn't her armor, it wasn't her hair. The bandages were making her hot and itchy. She wanted to take them off, but she would just have to wait until she got to Primm. It was five minutes from her, a large metal structure looping around the cracked and dusty buildings. There was a high, pointed, fence surrounding the town and Tenley could feel safety coming from it.

But the silence…that was strange, for such a big town.

Tenley paused at the beginning of a turn off, gazing up at the flag clapping above her. There was some kind of two headed animal on either side of it, New California republic in print around the edges. She raised an eyebrow at this and then looked forward at the sound of approaching steps. Her hand immediately found the pistol strapped to her hip and the man approaching her froze, his own fingers twitching towards the rifle on his back.

"Primm is off limits," he licked his lips.

"Why," her words were clipped, firm.

He hesitated. "It's a military operation."

"I don't care," she was sickly calm and that sent a shiver down her own spine. "What's going on in Primm that I can't walk through without some idiot in beige coming after me."

His eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly and his back straightened. "Some of the prisoners from the Correctional Facility broke out during the riot and have taken hostages inside the town. We're at a standoff."

She didn't have time for this.

"I'm going in there," she muttered, brushing past him.

"You can't just do that!"

She glared over at him. She was hot and sweaty and that damn bird was still giving her grief. She wanted to get in there, see if there were any survivors and she didn't care if she had to fight some simple criminals to get to what she wanted. There was a sign high above the town and it read Mojave Express. That was what was at the top of her mailing order, that was the company that employed her. She had to get in there, she had to see if her employer was still alive and if they were, she had to get answers.

"Are you really gonna use an entire squad to stop me," she growled.

He was really thinking about it. She could see it in his eyes, he was thinking about cuffing her and possibly shipping her off to corporate. Well, she wasn't going to give him that chance.

She kicked up dust, her lungs huffing as her arms strained with the metal weight on them. At least she would get some muscle tone back. She heard him yell after her and then heard the scratch of a speaker and she really started running. She turned past a guard stand, slipping on the gravel tossed across the road and her cheek connected with concrete. Tenley screamed, damn didn't that hurt! She flailed there for a moment, teeth grit and eyes closed and then she was up again. Her steps were staggering for a moment, vision slightly hazy from the impact of her head on concrete. She blinked it away a few times, only to have it come back around the edges of her vision.

The flashing light just under her foot caught her attention. Tenley's eye widened and she jumped forward, narrowly missing the explosion of a landmine she had been balancing on. Her lips curved into a smile, only to twist into a curse when she saw another flashing light just in front of her. She jumped back, holding an arm up in front of her face to protect it from the burns that would have come to her face. Once that was over she ran forward, jumping over yet another and then she was in town.

Tenley dug in her pack for a moment, pulling out four or five landmines. She pressed down on the button, arming it and she tossed them backwards, away from her but successfully blocking the path of the MP's coming towards her. They paused at the center of the bridge, huffing. She grinned and waved at them, feeling slightly smug.

"Howdy boys," she cooed.

The man that had tried to stop her first sighed. "You die in there, we're not getting ya out."

"Never said I wanted ya too," she popped open the small pouch clipped to her waist. "I just need you all to wait around until I can flush all of these raiders out," she popped a gum drop into her mouth, enjoying how her teeth stung. "I'm just here to see if my employer is still alive."

"There are people stuck in the Vikki & Vance casino," a female officer looked between her superiors warily. "We saw them run from their homes, there's not that many inmates in town. They couldn't kill them all."

"Yeah they could," Tenley shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me though," she turned her back to them, pulling her pistol from its holster against her thigh. "Cross your fingers."

Silence swarmed her, not even the crickets were…cricketing? Yeah, that worked. She stopped against the edge of an old Corvega, crouching down when she saw smoke trail into the air. What the hell was that smell? It sure as hell didn't smell like a cigarette. Tenley's nose scrunched and she twisted to peer around the front of the car. Two inmates, one male and one female – she was in a really cute outfit, Tenley would have to mark that later – were passing something between themselves. They weren't on guard. Neither one of them was the leader of this group.

Tenley pressed her back flat against the car, teeth grit as she slowly loaded a full clip into her gun, shoving the half full one into the pouch at her waist. She dug around in there for a moment and found what she wanted, a small silver cylinder. She screwed it onto the end of her pistol, making sure it was tight before she moved onto her knees. Tenley rested her arms in the shatter window opening, aiming through the other window and she pulled the trigger. The male raiders body snapped, convulsing, and he slumped to the ground, just as the woman did as Tenley lined her sights up just right. She waited for a moment, waited for any other inmates to notice they had lost two of their own and Tenley saw three new men come from a casino with a giant creature on the front of it. The sign said Bison Steve. Who names anything Steve? It seemed like such a stupid name.

"Th' fuck happened here?"

Tenley shook her head, they were close! She aimed and fired, watching as another man fell. The two were on guard immediately, looking around wildly. They didn't know where she was, they could easily find out though if they dove for cover by the old car. Tenley breathed out slowly, aiming and firing again. Four down, one to go. She leveled the barrel and then they spotted her. Green eyes met hers and something…something clicked. She couldn't fire. Her finger shook against the trigger but she couldn't fucking move. He couldn't move either, which was strange. He only had one eye and a mohwak, the color so close to white it was unbelievable.

He was familiar.

"Tenley?"

He knew her name.

"Tenley, holy shit is that you?"

Say something you idiot!

"Did you forget how to speak?"

He was standing above her and she was just staring at him like an idiot.

"Tenley, fuckin say something!"

Say something? How did you do that again?

She licked her lips, trying to form a name she didn't know and he crouched down beside her.

"What th' hell happened to your eye?"

Her lips finally moved. "Shot."

"Shot? You got…you got shot? How?"

She didn't know. She didn't fucking know and he was making this hard on her.

"God dammit, fuckin NCR," he mumbled, helping her to her feet. "Come on before th' others see me."

The others? Right, he was a part of the bandits that raided the town. The town that might hold some answers. But he knew her and he might know more, about her, about who she was. All she knew was her name and everything else was a blur.

He led her into the Mojave Express building, a familiar place that brought back familiar faces. The people were like ghosts, moving fast but she saw an older man and an older woman, saw herself sitting at the small table against the wall with a familiar face in front of her, laughing and eating some weird cake that had red filling. She licked her lips and she could taste the filling. Cherry? No, it was too bitter. It was something and she wanted to say poison, but that didn't seem quite right either.

He forced her down into her own delusion while her eyes followed him, his broad back and his scarred head. He opened a fridge and brought back a clear bottle of water instantly dripping perspiration. She stared at it for a long time.

"Tenley, take the damn bottle."

That seemed to wake her up and she did take it, uncapping it and trying to swallow down the déjà vu that was wrapped around her like the bandages on her head. When she finished the bottle, she placed it beside her and looked back up at him. He grunted and sat across from her, back pressed against the wall just like hers. They sat in silence for a long time, listening to the occasional creak of the building.

"I know this place," she muttered after the silence was too much.

He looked over at her for a moment. "Should," he looked forward again. "Fuckin worked here, what the hell is wrong with you?"

She shook her head. "Got shot…" she looked over at him. "I don't even know who you are."

"Seriously?"

She nodded and then looked down at the speckled table top. "Woke up in Goodsprings, left there this morning. Trying to find the guys that shot me."

Silence again.

She was starting to like it, she almost thought about never talking again.

Then he had to go and break it.

"Tenley Hilderse."

She looked over at him, her furrowed brow causing a pulse behind her eye. "Huh?"

He scratched at the stubble on his chin. "Tenley Hilderse, that's your name. Twenty three years old, worked for the Mojave Express and you were a crack shot."

Her heart was hammering in her chest. "What else?"

He was obviously wary about answering her. "Come from some place called The Temple, talked about it all the time, bout how dangerous the land around ya was. Said it was an old missile silo packed for another nuclear war. Came here for work, said you messed up everything and wanted to start again. That's all I know, honestly. I only met ya a week before my incarceration. You wrote me a few times but I never got any other answers."

He meant enough to her before she got shot for her to want to keep in touch after he was put away.

"What's your name?"

He licked his lips. "Scrambler…just call me Scrambler."

She nodded. "I need to talk to my employer."

"Why?"

Tenley shrugged a little. "Don't know really, just need to know…I got shot, I guess I just wanted to know if anyone came in here looking for me. They would have asked them, right? Asked what my route was, by force?"

He shrugged. "Guess so," he hesitated again. "Listen, I can't just let you go in there and kill anyone else."

Her brow furrowed again. "Why not? They're just a bunch of killers anyway."

"I am one of them, ya know."

Her heart fluttered. "Right…" and he had just saved her from a bunch of heart ache. She lifted her eyes to him. "What are you all going to do with the people in town?"

"Don't worry," he muttered. "Ain't here ta kill anyone, just waiting for an opportunity to get the hell out of here."

Tenley stared at him for a long moment and then twisted around, grabbing her pack. She opened it and rummaged around in it for a moment, producing a thick bundle of rope. She pretty much slammed it down on the table, a proud smile on her face. He stared at her skeptically.

"What is this for?"

"Throw it over the side of town pressed against the rocks," she pushed it closer to him. "They aren't patrolling there in the middle of the day. Easy escape."

"And if they see us," he was still picking up the rope through his skepticism.

"Run like hell and pray ya don't get shot."

* * *

Tenley watched the dust flurry around their boots, right hand wrapped firmly around one of the thick metal poles of the high fence. Scrambler was still standing there, watching his 'friends' fun off towards the prison. He looked back at Tenley, seeing her forlorn look and cleared his throat to catch her attention. She blinked a few times and then smiled at him.

"Well, get your ass outta here," she urged.

He stared at her a moment longer. "You don't seem as dangerous as before."

He was wrong, of course, but she played along.

"Maybe I'm not, I don't even have an inkling as to what I was like before I got shot," she let go of the fence and reached up, ghosting er fingers across the bandage. "I like who I am right now, let's just go with it and you get on before you get caught."

He nodded. "The guys know who you are, if you need to come to the prison they won't shoot. Promise."

Her cheeks flushed a little. "You act so weird," she giggled.

He acted so weird? Of course… "You need to go to," he turned.

She watched him walk, blinking slowly and then she did as she was told. She started walking to the casino everyone was supposed to be held up in. She shuffled at the closed door, her stomach twisting and her mind racing. It was simple, dammit. Walk in there, ask if they had seen a man in a checkered suit and walk out. Piece of cake, or pie, whichever floated your boat. She took in a deep breath, straightened her back, and pushed on the door. It swung open easily, a lot of give and only one person looked at her when she walked in though the casino was full.

He approached Tenley, his mouth opening to introduce himself but in a flash, Tenley barked out his name. "Johnson Nash," she was breathless.

He raised an eyebrow at her and then smiled from behind a scraggly beard. "Yes ma'am, can I help ya with anything?"

It took her a moment, but Tenley eventually found her voice again. "I-I got rid of the inmates in town," she reached into the top of her armor, pulling out the soft piece of paper. "Courier 6."

His eyebrows bobbed at that and he took the piece of paper. His eyes ran over it slowly, making Tenley nervous. When he finally looked up at her, she was twitching.

"Pleasure ta see you again, Courier 6," he passed the paper back to her and she put it away securely. "What can I do fer ya?"

She swallowed thickly. "I'm looking for some people, a man in a daisy suit? Black and white checkers all over it? He was traveling with some other people."

"Can't say I have," Johnson shook his head and then pointed to the bar. "Beagle might have some answers. He's the Deputy."

Tenley nodded and smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem."

She hesitated, wanting to wave goodbye, but she figured simply leaving was best in this situation. So that's what she did. Tenley turned and walked out of the building, the smell of something burnt hitting her and she noticed there was a man in leather armor stumbling from the Bison Steve. He was holding onto his left arm which dripped blood onto the concrete and he had a nasty broken cheek. The skin was open and flushed, leaking blood and something else that looked just gross. Tenley didn't care, she approached him anyway but the smell coming from him made her nose crinkle.

"Holy shit dude," she gagged a little, waving a hand in front of herself. "You reek!"

He winced. "Yeah well…let's not talk about that. Who th' hell are you? You're not the one that got rid o' all those guys are ya?"

Tenley nodded, proud but too preoccupied to show it. "Yeah, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

He was wary again. "Oh yeah?"

"I'm looking for a man in a daisy suit," her mind reflected images of a checkered fabric, black and white against a background of darkness. "He shot me, I need to find him."

That got him talking and he told her everything that he knew. That the man had come through here, that he had been talking about some woman he had to deal with, that he had been with a bunch of men called Kahns. They had passed through, talking about heading back to Vegas. That was all Tenley needed to get a grin across her pretty lips.

"Well then," she looked towards the gate of town. "I guess that's it for me, I'm headed to the Outpost now."

"A-Alright," Beagle winced as he followed beside her. "Gonna go talk to these guys about takin over th' town. I ain't fit fer the law."

Tenley sighed, arms slackening at her sides. "Guess it would be best," she looked up at the hot sun. "Don't think I'm gonna be able to wear this armor for long…"

"Good protection, but the heat has been awful lately. Maybe take a break from it."

She shrugged. "I don't know, I think it will help me in the long run," she smiled at him. "Well, it was nice meeting you Beagle, thank you for your help."

He smiled a little, still wary and slightly disbelieving that she was so helpful when she got rid of the bandits in town. "Yeah...yeah same to you."

The meeting was cut and dry, very bland and unwanted.

Tenley hopped down from the edge of the highway, her boots landing firmly against the concrete and then she began walking towards the Outpost. It was obvious in the distance, sided by two giant statues made of something rather dark. Between her and the Outpost was a rather long walk, a lot further than between Primm and Goodsprings. But she didn't feel tired, she wasn't any form of faint. She was excited. It was so close! It was just right there, right in front of her!

There was also a giant radscorpion with a pale shell coming at her, but still.


	6. Broken Spokes

_Writing one shots (Drabbles of Doom, please check them out! They're really ridiculous) and these chapters for New Vegas make me so happy and get me so excited. I decided to post early because tomorrow's my birthday - June 30th. Anyway, thank you all for reading this story! I hope I don't disappoint! R&R please, flames and praise alike are welcome._

* * *

_Seems I fell in love with a silver tongued devil…._

* * *

Tenley woke with a start, heart hammering in her chest. She felt weightless, like she was high off of Med-X or Jet but she was lying on a mattress damp from her own sweat. She blinked a few times, mouth popping open gently and then she tried sitting up. It didn't work. She tugged on her wrists and then her brow furrowed. She was tied to the bed with zip ties! She tugged again, teeth grit to the point of chipping and then she heard someone chuckle beside her.

There was a woman there with the same hair as Sunny, if not a bit lighter, and she was…well, beautiful. Tenley felt ashamed to be in front of her. She had freckles dusted across her cheeks and a tan that was subtle but outstanding. A pendant rested against her right clavicle, drawing Tenley's eyes dangerously close to her cleavage.

That's when the woman chuckled again, lifting a half empty bottle of whiskey to her lips. "Getting an eye-full are we?"

Tenley blushed and looked away. "Where am I?"

"Mojave Outpost," the woman sighed and crossed her right leg over her left. "Lucky someone found ya, you were gonna be eatin by radscorpions."

Tenley's heart jumped into her throat. "The scorpion! It was white!"

The woman blinked. "You fought off an albino? What the hell were you doing about to get eatin by babies?"

"It got me in the hip," Tenley explained. "The left one and then my leg started going numb so I just…I fought until I couldn't anymore. I passed out before I saw the babies but I was mostly fighting the giant ones. Then I heard some hissing. After that…nothing."

The woman stared at her for a long time before she took a long sip of the whiskey in her hand and her right arm shot out, gloved hand hovering above Tenley's chest. "Call me Cass."

Tenley smiled and raised her hand enough for Cass to take it. "Tenley," her eyes ran around on the ceiling. "Who found me?"

Cass paused in taking another swig of her poison before she wiped at her bottom lip and swallowed. "A scout they sent to check the roads. He found ya at the pass to Nipton."

The young courier tried sitting up but grumbled when the restraints seemed to tighten. "Why am I tied down?"

Cass laughed loudly at that. "You weren't even conscious and you were putting up a hell of a fight, it was hilarious."

Tenley hesitated in asking her next question but deemed Cass already trustworthy not to give her an answer that would make her wary of the freckled woman. "And uh…why are you back here with me?"

That seemed to stump her. "Well…I don't really know," Cass shrugged. "Guess I just thought you would like to see a friendly face when you got up. None of the soldiers crawling around this place are really pleasant to strangers, especially women."

Tenley grumbled. "Can you at least untie me so I can leave? I need to get my bandages redone before I go."

Cass whipped out a thin dagger and sliced through the plastic quick enough and then she helped Tenley to her feet. Tenley swayed as she did the first time she woke up in Goodsprings and blinked, realizing she was seeing full view. She looked to Cass, who had a sort of solemn look on her face and let the young woman go so she could scream into a mirror in the bathroom. As Cass approached the door she saw Tenley curled in a ball on the floor, sobbing into her knees and rocking. Cass crouched down beside her but did nothing, just keeping others that came into the barracks from seeing the woman breaking down in their bathroom.

"I look hideous!"

Cass shook her head, though Tenley was too busy staining her bare legs with tears – where were her clothes? "It's not that bad."

Tenley looked up then. "Not that bad?! Look at me!"

It didn't look good, but really the horrid scar sort of complimented her strange beauty. Though Cass would keep her mouth shut about that. The scar ran from the corner of her left eye and back into her hairline, some of the skin split down her left cheek but it was nothing. She was shot, Cass didn't need to hear that to know what had happened. She had heard a courier had been shot and rose from the grave near Goodsprings but she hadn't believed it until she saw Tenley. Until Lucy had unwrapped the dust and blood soaked bandages and revealed that horrible wound. Tenley was scarred for life and she seemed privy about her looks.

"I see you and I'm telling you that you look just fine," Cass muttered, strangely calm. "It's not like you always have to see it. You have enough hair that it'll cover it but I wouldn't do that."

Tenley, child like in Cass' presence, blinked at her with wide eyes and sniffed. "Why not?"

"Because you look fine, you live in the wasteland, this is sadly normal around here."

Tenley hated that this stranger was right. Her eyes flickered as her lips popped in a pout. "Fine," she muttered. "Help me up please, I need clothes."

Cass chuckled slightly and did as she was asked, watching Tenley glance at her reflection again and then she sighed, leaving the bathroom. She didn't see her metal armor anywhere and wanted to start crying all over again. She really liked that armor! True, it was heavy and it was sort of hot, but it was good protection from everything the wasteland threw at her. Tenley stomped her foot and looked over at Cass, who already had a different set of armor for her.

"Leather armor, reinforced," Cass explained as Tenley stared at it adoringly. "I have this strange feeling you like it."

Tenley nodded her head fiercely and took the armor quickly, bounding off into the bathroom. "Gimme a minute!"

Cass can't find herself leaving like she usually does. Something about this young woman is rather intoxicating, like she has an air of addiction around her. Even through the blood and dust, Cass can smell the faintest hint of Sarsparilla and bubblegum. Cass sits on the edge of one of the bunks, lighting a rolled cigarette and she waits, listening to Tenley grunt and squeak in the bathroom.

Jackson walks into the barracks, eyes flickering around without his seldom gone shades. When he sees Cass she knows his jaw is set backwards as he approaches. He stands over her with an agitated look on his face.

"Where is she?"

"She's changing," Cass mutters. "Leave her alone."

"She has to leave, we don't have enough room for all of these people just popping in."

"It isn't like she's asking to stay for the rest of her life," Cass quipped, hearing the door handle jiggle.

The door opened and Tenley bounced out, her smile fading quickly when she saw Ranger Jackson standing there. He stared at her as well, eyes lingering on the horrid scar marking her skull. She was so tiny, he didn't realize this until now, when she was standing on her own two feet and not lying down in a cot. His eyes flickered to Cass, who was picking at the peeling label on her whiskey bottle and then smiled warily at the girl with unnaturally wide eyes.

"Hello there miss, my name is Ranger Jackson. Glad ta see ya in one piece."

She cocked her head to the right slightly. "Actually sir, I left a few pieces of me back in a grave up the road. What did you need?"

Cass looked up at the ceiling, face serious save for her lips that were curled inward, trying to block a laugh threatening to bubble up through her lips. Jackson gave her a scolding look that she ignored and then tipped his head at Tenley.

"I was um…just coming to see how you were doing and wondered if you needed an escort down the road aways, seein as th' roads are blocked by scorpions and nightstalkers."

"Nightstalkers," the name was familiar on her tongue.

"Yes ma'am, nasty lil creatures that come out and devour everything after dusk. The radscorpions would jus be a minor pest if they were gone."

"Well I can help you with them," Tenley shrugged. "I'm a good shot. Course, I'll need some back up."

Jackson and Cass stared at her with blank faces, on the same page. She was stupid. That was it, that was what was so off about her. "Um…no, I don't think that would work," Jackson muttered.

"I agree with him, for the first time ever," Cass stood and shook her head. "I'm headed back to th' bar, come see me 'fore ya leave. Bye tight ass," Cass muttered to Jackson.

Tenley's long fingers curled into tight fists at her sides. Why was everyone treating her like she was a child? Or stupid. She was already missing Doc Mitchell. She wanted to be back in Goodsprings, she could even put up with Sunny if that meant she didn't get treated this way. No…no this wasn't her time to rethink this. She had barely started this trip. So Tenley took in a deep breath, put on the prettiest smile she could and started the long process of trying to convince a ranger she was worthy of helping him.

* * *

Doc Mitchell sat in his kitchen, leant back in a creaky chair while he strummed his fingers on the table top.

He didn't realize how quiet it would be with her gone.

It was just…nothing. No singing, no laughing, no sounds of frustration when her legs wouldn't comply. Just him and the groans of settling wood. He reached up and ran a hand down his face, trying to figure out what to do next. It was going to be rather boring with her gone. Back to treating Gecko bites and radscorpions stings. He could probably go fix up his dead wife's grave. But hers was up there too, no one seemingly brave enough to go up there and fill it in. Maybe the rain would do the work. It was coming in fast, would be over the Wasteland within the next two days. He had preparations in his roof he had to make for the coming days. He would be busy. Good, maybe his mind would become as busy as his hands.

"I hate you."

Mitchell looked back at Sunny and then sighed, looking back down to the black brew in front of him. "What do ya want, Sunny?"

"Just came to say I hate you," Cheyenne moved around and rested her head on his right leg, looking up at him with mute canine laughter. "Just gonna mope? Wasn't like you were her daddy. Get over it."

"Don't need ta hear your grievances Sunny."

"What would I have to grieve over, I'm happy."

"Cus ya were jealous," Mitchell muttered. "Jus' like a teenager."

Silence again. "So what if I was jealous," he could see the pout on her lips. "I have every right to be."

"You a grown woman, Sunny, no sense in worryin over looks."

"But Chet was in love with her right from the start!"

There was that damn silence again.

Sunny Smiles, a crack shot with a varmint rifle and a sunny – ha! – disposition, was jealous over a stranger that caught the eye of the local vendor. Mitchell should actually feel sad for Sunny, seeing as Chet had been stringing her on for this long just to try and rope in a pretty stranger that just happened to be dumped on them all. But Sunny was a grown woman, she should be able to handle this better. She wasn't fifteen, she was almost thirty for Christ's sake. Hell, she should be tryin to string him along now, Mitchell figured she would be over there kicking him in the ass for treating her this way.

But here she was, crumbling in front of the man she had accidently called father when he found her.

"I'm just happy she's gone," he could hear the tears thick in her throat.

"Victor left right behind 'er," Mitchell muttered.

A minute of silence – he was getting tired of silence – and then he could almost hear Sunny's wheels turning. "Oh my God, he did."

Concern. Sunny couldn't deny her kind nature.

"Did he think we wouldn't notice his absence after she was gone," Mitchell shook his head. "Never liked 'im."

"But he's been here for fifteen years, she was here for a little over a week."

"Still, he was a part of House's regiment of Securitrons. Ever been to the Strip? They crawl everywhere and none of 'em are friendly."

"I've been to the Strip, seen the way those things move. Maybe you shouldn't have gotten too attached to Tenley. We don't know anything about her, she could have led the dogs to our doors."

He didn't want to admit Sunny was right but she was, in a way. But Doc Mitchell knew Tenley, even after spending that short amount of time with the possibly mentally impaired young courier, was not capable of dooming an entire town. Even if she didn't know. She was smart in some areas – combat, and from what she had shown on the vigor tester, she was also skilled in survival. She would know if someone or something was following her.

"No, no she wasn't followed here. She would have known if anything did follow her."

"The bitch was crazy, she wouldn't know. Plus she got shot in the head, who knows what she knows."

Mitchell twisted to look back at Sunny. "Why would you say that?"

Sunny blinked real slowly. "Doc, you patched her up. You should kn-"

"No," he snapped. "I mean, why would ya think she's crazy?"

Sunny huffed, ruffling her bangs. "Course ya didn't see it," she grumbled. "Didn't see the look in 'er eye? All rainbows and cactus flowers on the outside but I could tell somethin' was up with her. Whether she knows it or not, she's crazy."

Doc stared at Sunny until she left, grumbling about how _he _had finally lost it and then he stared at where she had stood. He worried about Tenley far more than he should, and now this was worrying at his brow. She could be dead. Or Sunny could be right, she could have left so quickly because she had led the dogs the small town of Goodsprings.

* * *

_Next chapter throws in the Animal Perk I mentioned earlier .w. I can't wait, this was the whole reason I started this story. _


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